Unexpected McKinsey Offer

Thank you for all that you do. I received an offer to be a Business Analyst at McKinsey a week ago and am absolutely ecstatic. Frankly, someone like me isn’t supposed to have an opportunity like that. My parents are immigrants and came to America with less than $500 to their names in their mid twenties. I went to [U.S. University] where I majored in Chemical Engineering and have been working at a no-name company for the last 2 years.

I believe that what got me a foot in the door at McK and other companies was my 770 GMAT score. Besides that, I did everything you said. Over the course of five months, I:

1. Bought LOMS and listened to everything about 7 times. I probably listened to the 3 best practice McK cases at least 15 times each.

2. Expanded my network. I didn’t know anyone at the Big 3 at the start of this process, but through connecting with complete strangers on LinkedIn I managed to gain a network of about 15 current/former McK, BCG, and Bain consultants, who graciously helped me get and prepare for interviews at all three firms.

3. Read about 150 cases on my own, did 30 live cases with inexperienced friends, and 20+ live cases with experienced consultants.

4. Used your math software to improve my “precise math” from 8 problems/min and about 80% accuracy to 19 problems/min and 99%.

I did all of this while balancing a full time job and preparing applications for business school, which I did to hedge my bets against consulting. It was a busy summer but thankfully it all paid off. While I was rejected from Bain, I secured the McK offer. I haven’t interviewed yet with BCG (and probably won’t).

Thanks again for all of your help, I look forward to purchasing your material for future first years and listening to this podcast on voice coaching. Once my offer is finalized I’ll be sure to make a donation to Kid Power as well.

My Reply:

Congratulations on the McK offer! I’m sure your parents are proud of you and hope you are proud of yourself.

The only part of your email I disagree with is the statement, “Frankly, someone like me isn’t supposed to have an opportunity like that”… someone like you IS supposed to have an opportunity like that.

Hey, you did your part and were prepared… and did you get lucky? Yes, in the sense of getting the opportunity to show McK what you could do wasn’t a guarantee. But the funny thing is the harder one works, the “luckier” one gets… and I think you more than proved that.

Congrats on the offer, it was well deserved. And if you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for my newsletter for F1Ys.

Additional Resources

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The person who wrote this email – I agree with Victor. You DID deserve this opportunity. You did what the majority of people do NOT do: you prepared, worked your tail off, then prepared some more. And had a “plan B”. I predict you will do exceptionally well at McK.

Victor, you are doing a great service to everyone in this industry. Thank you.

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